Aryna Sabalenka shattered Serena Williams’ record for the richest season in the history of the WTA despite falling short of her first-ever WTA Finals title.

Aryna Sabalenka has recorded the richest season in WTA history (Image: Getty)

Aryna Sabalenka has once again etched her name in the history books despite falling just short of her first-ever WTA Finals title.

On Saturday, Sabalenka struggled to fight back tears after falling to Elena Rybakina, 6-3, 7-6 (0), in the WTA Finals championship match — thereby missing out on a $5.235 million payday. The World No. 1 didn’t leave completely empty-handed, however, as she still walked away with a hefty sum thanks to wins over Jasmine Paolini, Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff and Amanda Anisimova.

Once the dust had finally settled on Sabalenka’s decorated 2025 campaign, she made a whopping $15,008,519 in on-court earnings — marking the richest season in WTA history. Serena Williams, the previous record-holder, accumulated $12,385,572 in 2013, during which she posted a 78-4 record while securing titles at the French Open, US Open and WTA Finals.

Sabalenka, meanwhile, raked in $5 million upon claiming the US Open title in September before making $2.695 million in Riyadh over the weekend. Another $2.5 million combined came from her runner-up finishes at the Australian Open and Roland Garros.

Thanks to her latest second-place finish behind Rybakina, Sabalenka leapfrogged Venus Williams ($42,867,364) and Iga Swiatek ($43,640,490) on the all-time WTA Tour prize money leaderboard with $45,175,621. Only Serena ranks ahead, having earned $94,816,730 over the course of her legendary career from 1995-2022.

Serena Williams made $12,385,572 during the 2013 campaign (Image: Getty)

Speaking to reporters ahead of the WTA Finals championship match, Sabalenka asserted that money isn’t the main motivator for why she competes. “I just really have a lot of love for the sport, and I really enjoy fighting,” she explained. “I really enjoy pushing myself to the limit, and I enjoy these kind of things,” she said. “And, I mean, of course, when you win, you think, ‘Oh actually, I’ve got a good check,’ you know. But this is never crossing my mind during the match. … But it’s a good check to have.”

Despite failing to claim the elusive first WTA Finals title of her career, Sabalenka — whose post-match decision initially raised eyebrows — insisted that she still felt “great” following the disappointing outcome.

“After a little time, I feel actually great,” Sabalenka told reporters during a post-match press conference. “I lost this match. She played incredible. I feel like I did my best today. It didn’t work. But I leave this tournament being proud of myself and the things that we’ve been able to achieve.

“I guess by doing this mistake over and over again, next time I show up in the big matches I’m in better control. But yeah, I was maybe a little bit emotional today, but it didn’t really affect my game. I was just maybe overthinking today, maybe too much.

“So, I think it wasn’t like I lost complete control over my emotions and I lost the match. No, I think she played incredible. I didn’t use a couple opportunities I had. And, yeah, basically, that’s it.”